Mean Mariama

This is getting ridiculous. It makes me not wanna do nice things for people anymore. The cell phone charger guy (guy under a tenda with a generator and lots of power strips) told me to get him some medicine. Of course I refused. This time when I dropped off my phone, and then when I went to pick it up, he refused to give it to me until I gave him some medicine for malaria. I tried to explain 1) I’m not a doctor and 2) the hospital is right there!! Not kidding you, he sits kitty-corner from the hospital gate. Finally a friend of his intervened and I got my phone.

The wife of my landlord’s younger brother says she is worried her child is eating too much dirt. I told her typically this a sign of a lack of iron or a general mineral deficiency. There is multivitamin syrup in the pharmacy (where her brother in law works) or she should boil some liver for him. Give him a mango or some green leafies like okra. When I passed the pharmacy I told my landlord to bring her the vitamin syrup. She comes by again after dinner because my landlord forgot. So I told her when she goes to the market tomorrow, go get the vitamin syrup. Then, this morning, she sends another child to get a prescription. Again, I had to explain I’m not a doctor and quite frankly she needs to go get the vitamins herself—I already helped by telling her why her kid is eating dirt, now use the knowledge and help yourself!

At the hospital I was number crunching and found we have all “alarming” statistics. Abandons, deaths, non-responses are all too high and treated/released as healthy kids are too low. At least the number of kids we consult are up from last month. Plus, the Chef is deciding to change the national protocol. We should only give wheat flour to malnourished pregnant women or breastfeeding women instead of the norm of CSB plus oil and sugar. We do mix it before giving it out so the women don’t use the sugar for tea and the oil for cooking…but why can’t we even try to respect the norms? Because, Bébé tells me, “There is no protocol in Ansongo.”